The AOL Spyware

[mrousseau () LABCAL COM (Maxime Rousseau)]

Hi list,

I have seen the following article in The Register (URL follows)

"A lawsuit has been taken out against AOL, accusing it of violating
privacy laws. The complainant, Christopher Specht, alleges that
Netscape's SmartDownload software secretly monitors all .exe and .zip
files that are downloaded. Downloaded file info is fed back to Netscape
along with an identifying cookie that sits in the Navigator browser. "

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/11819.html

Has anyone investigated this or can confirm/infirm this behaviour? I'm
also wondering what kind of data is included in the "feedback" and if
this SmartDownload software is included in the Netscape packages?

If i get a minute i'll try to check it out too, if anyone else then me
is intrigued by this.
It looks alot like the RealPlayer's Download Agent issue also...

M.